DeLisha Milton-Jones : biography

September 11, 1974 -

DeLisha Milton-Jones (born September 11, 1974), née DeLisha Milton, is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Milton-Jones played college basketball for the University of Florida. In her fourteen-season WNBA career, she has played for the Washington Mystics and the Los Angeles Sparks (twice). She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a two-time WNBA champion, and has been selected to the WNBA All-Star Game three times.

Professional career

Milton-Jones is well known for the unusual length of her arms, which give her an eighty-four inch wingspan&mdash;typical of that of a seven-foot person. She was a member of the U.S. national women's basketball teams that won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China,Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, . Retrieved September 12, 2011. as well as the U.S. women's teams that won world championships in 1998 and 2002.

In the WNBA, she played for the Los Angeles Sparks from 1999 to 2004. She was traded to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Chamique Holdsclaw and a first-round draft pick in the 2004 off-season. In 2003, she won the Euroleague Championship with team Ekaterinburg in Russia. In the 2005&ndash;2006 season, she won the Euroleague with Gambrinus Brno of the Czech Republic and for the season 2006&ndash;2007 she signed a two-year contract with Ros Casares Valencia of Spain. During the 2008&ndash;2009 WNBA off-season, Milton-Jones played for Ros Casares Valencia in Spain. for whom she also played during the 2007-08 off-season.

She is a two-time WNBA champion and has been selected to the WNBA All Star Game multiple times. In her WNBA career, she has scored 3,944 career points (16th all-time). On April 22, 2008, Milton-Jones was reacquired by the Los Angeles Sparks in a trade for Taj McWilliams-Franklin.

She currently plays for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.

Awards and honors

Milton-Jones has received numerous awards and honors, some of which are listed below.

Gold Medals

2000 & 2008 Olympic Games

2007 Tournament of Americas

1998 & 2002 FIBA World Championship

2002 Opals World Challenge

1999 U.S. Olympic Cup

1997 World University Games

1994 U.S. Olympic Festival

Bronze Medal

2006 FIBA World Championship

Collegiate honors

1997 SEC Player of the Year

1997 State Farm Wade Trophy

1997 First-team All-American

1997 First-team All-Southeastern Conference

1996 First-team All-Southeastern Conference

1995 Second-team All-Southeastern Conference

1994 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team

SEC Player of the Week (February 27, 1995; December 15, 1996; January 5, 1997; January 26, 1997)

Europe

2001-2002: Lavezzini Basket Parma

2002-2004: UMMC Ekaterinburg

2007-2009: Ros Casares Valencia

Coaching career

She became the second woman (after Ashley McElhiney) to coach a men's professional basketball team when, in 2005, she took over the ABA's Los Angeles Stars.

She appeared in the 2000 movie Love and Basketball as Delisha Milton. In her free time, she likes to relax by cooking, cleaning and playing tennis.

College career

Milton-Jones received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for the Florida Gators women's basketball team from 1993 to 1997. She was a four-year letterman, and led the Lady Gators to four NCAA Tournament appearances. As a senior in 1996&ndash;1997, she was recognized as an All-American by the Associated Press, Kodak and the Basketball Times; she was also the winner of the Wade Trophy, recognizing the best women's basketball player in NCAA Division I.